President Bush supports medical liability reform. Shouldn't you?

[old blue]

"President Bush supports medical liability reform. Shouldn't you? Tell Congress"

While doing a routine propaganda check over at foxnews.com, up came a popup ad with the above message, complete with an amorous picture of Bush and a link taking me, presumably, to a congressional contact. The popup window has the heading "From FoxNews.com"

Of course this explicit conservative activism from FNC should surprise absolutely no one by now, but we should at least all be aware of and mark the crossing of each journalistic ethical barrier as it happens.

[Not_Giving_Up]

1. They capped lawsuits here in Texas

They fed everyone the line that the reason their doctor charges so much is because their medical malpractice insurance costs so much. Guess what? They capped the lawsuits, and the insurance rates for the docs have gone UP. The cheapest visit to a doctor that I've found around here 9without insurance) is $70. Then, you get to spend an arm and a leg on your prescriptions. Give me a break!!!

[ChairOne]

7. The govt's *own* studies conjectured about that....

... and more generally that there's little, if any, relationship between awards caps and medmal insurance premiums...

It's all a lie guys. It's a lie that the doctors, in cahoots with the bush administration desperately want you to believe.

[inslee08]

9. You have a link?

Or a source that I can refer to? If this were true, I wouldn't be surprised if I changed my position on this issue...

[ChairOne]

11. Been a few years since I studied the issue.....

It was either HHS, GAO, or CBO... lol - good luck!

I'll take a quick run thru my harddrive, see if anything jumps out at me... mebbe I should get the google-local-search thingie....

<shrugs>

Hm - the Public Citizen report almost certainly cites what I'm thinking about - that at least cuts the search space down to a few score... LOL

[supernova]

2. Favoriet bugaboo of the right: tort reform

that, as usual, misses the point completely.

Try asking the insurance companies WHY they need to jack up the price of insurace every term and leave injured patients who need to recoup their costs out of it.

I actually like Maryland's idea of a proposed insurance commission board. To institute a rate hike, insurance companies would have to go before the board and justify it, first. I bet that would discourage a lot of premium price gouging for docs.

[jdj]

3. That's really horrifying.

Thanks for posting.

[rustydog]

4. Yes I support Medical Liability Reform, raise the ceiling to infinity!

If some incompetent doctor causes the death of someone, removes the wrong body part, misdiagnoses due to his presidential-like incompetence, the VICTIM, and they are victims,should be able to sue the son or daughter-of-a-bitch into abject poverty.
If it is a health care institution who covers it up, you should be able to financially turn them into a Dairy Queen.

Force these insurance companies to limit their premiums. when you make a 10 million dollar profit after paying out awards to these out of control frivolous lawsuits, you don't need tort reform, you need INSURANCE gouging reform.

[inslee08]

8. But that is rare...

Of course, there are grave instinces of serious idiocy on the part of doctors. But again, that is rare. Doctors, like all humans, occasionally make minor mistakes, and these minor mistakes end up costing doctors/insurance companies millions of dollars.

And what we're talking about here is capping the punitive damages, not the true economic damages.

So, I'm in favor of tort reform. Maybe not the same type of reform as * wants, but something has to be done.

But, yeah, what Faux did in this circumstance is certainly not appropriate. Hell, remembering that * supports tort reform is more likely to make me oppose it (I guess that shows us who's watching...)

[TankLV]

10. Umm - sure. The value of a human life is piddling anyway.

Just hope it's not YOUR life or loved one that's dead because of "only a small number of mistakes".

It's against the rules to question your intent on posting here - so I won't.

But you don't fool anyone for a split second.

Thanks for parroting repuke LIES/PROPAGANDA!

[Stirk]

5. It's amazing, isn't it?

Seems like just 5 or 6 years ago, Fox News was flying under the radar. Their bias was clear to anyone looking for it, but it was just subtle enough to allow an air of legitimacy. Not any more.

They used to propagandize through omission, for instance. Now they flat-out lie. And the glorification of the Almighty Leader has reached a truly sickening depth.

They've become very emboldened over the last few years.

[old blue]

6. Agreed. It would be humorous if so many people didn't buy it. eom.

[DebinTx]

12. Companies sue at 4 times the rate as individuals do

and tort reform only caps individuals' suits, not companies'. It's a load of hooey that has accomplished nothing.

[StrrIsland]

13. Florida will have caps

soon. It's supported BIG time here.